Butrint 6 describes the excavations carried out on the Vrina Plain by the Butrint Foundation from 2002–2007. Lying just to the south of the ancient port city of Butrint, these excavations have revealed a 1,300 year long story of a changing community that began in the 1st century AD, one which not only played its part in shaping the city of Butrint but also in how the city interacted and at times reacted to the changing political, economic and cultural situations occurring across the Mediterranean World over this period. Volume III discusses the Roman and Late Antique pottery from the Vrina Plain excavations. This detailed study of the ceramics follows the archaeological sequence recovered from the excavations in chronological order and provides a comprehensive and in depth review of the pottery, context by context, offering an important insight into the supply, as well as typology, of local and imported pottery available to the inhabitants of the Vrina Plain during this period. This is followed by a discussion on how the pottery trends found on the Vrina Plain relate to that of other sites in Butrint, both within the town (Triconch Palace; the Forum) and outside (Vrina Plain training school villa excavations; the villa of Diaporit). The volume also presents an overview of some of the principal typological developments found across Butrint so as to allow the reader to place the Vrina finds in context, including a discussion of a number of key contexts from the Forum, as well as the findings from thin-section petrology of some of the ceramics.

Egyptian coffins stand out in museums’ collections for their lively and radiant appearance. As an involucre of the mummy, coffins played a key-role by protecting the body and at the same time, integrating the deceased in the afterlife. The paramount importance of these objects and their purpose is detected in the ways they changed through time. For more than three thousand years, coffins and tombs had been designed to assure in the most efficient way possible a successful outcome for the difficult transition to the afterlife. This book examines twelve non-royal tombs found relatively intact, from the plains of Saqqara to the sacred hills of Thebes. These almost undisturbed burial sites managed to escape ancient looters and became adventurous events of the Egyptian archaeology. These discoveries are described from the Mariette’s exploration of the Mastaba of Ti in Saqqara to Schiaparelli’s discovery of the Tomb of Kha and Merit in Deir el-Medina. Each one of these sites unveil before our eyes a time capsule, where coffins and tombs were designed together as part of a social, political, and religious order. From the Pre-dynastic times to the decline of the New Kingdom, this book explores each site revealing the interconnection between mummification practices, coffin decoration, burial equipment, tomb decoration and ritual landscapes. Through this analysis, the author aims to point out how the design of coffins changed through time in order to empower the deceased with different visions of immortality. By doing so, the study of coffins reveal a silent revolution which managed to open to the common men and women horizons of divinity previously reserved to the royal sphere. Coffins thus show us how identity was forged to create an immortal and divine self.

Julius Caesar has been the inspiration to countless military commanders over the last two millennia. Born into an aristocratic family, his early military campaigns, part of his progression along the cursus honorum, included campaigning in the east, Spain and in the early Roman civil wars. His participation in the Gallic Wars is known mainly through the commentary on the wars that he wrote and published, along with his incursions into Britain. This concise history details his military life, and how it impacted with his political career, from his youth through the civil wars that resulted in his becoming the dictator of Rome, and his legacy.

This study analyses the social and symbolic value of the material culture, in particular the pottery production and the architecture, and the social structure of the local communities of a broad area encompassing Eastern Anatolia, the South Caucasus and North-western Iran during the last phase of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. This broad area is known from the Assyrian texts as ‘Nairi lands’. The second part of the study, furnishes a reassessment of pottery production characteristics and theories, as well as of the socio-economic structure and issues, tied to the sedentary and mobile local communities of the Nairi lands. The study brings into focus the characteristics, the extension and the distribution of Grooved pottery, along with other pottery typologies, by providing an accompanying online catalogue with detailed descriptions and high-resolution images of the pots and sherds obtained from public and private institutions in Turkey and Armenia. Moreover, the socio-political organisation and subsistence economy issues are addressed in order to advance a possible reconstruction of the social structure of the Nairi lands communities. Particular attention is devoted to the pastoral nomad component and the role played within the Nairi phenomenon. The study includes a very large corpus of text images and high-resolution color images of the pottery of the area under examination, gathered by the author in order to offer a reliable tool and compendium.

Building on the first Wild Things volume (Oxbow Books 2014) which aimed to showcase the research putting archaeologists researching the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic at the cutting edge of understanding humanity’s past, this collection of contributions presents recent research from an international group of both early career and established scientists.Covering aspects of both Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research in order to encourage dialogue between practitioners of archaeology of both periods, contributions are also geographically diverse, touching on British, European, North American and Asian archaeology. Topics covered include transitional periods, deer and people, stone tool technologies, pottery, land-use, antler frontlets, and the development of prehistoric archaeology an 'age of wonder'.

Rest in Mesopotamian and Israelite Literature studies the concept of rest in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature. Through close examination of Mesopotamian texts and selections from the Deuteronomistic History and Chronicles, Kim delineates a concept of rest for each body of literature, and employs a comparative approach to illuminate the rest motif in the Hebrew Bible in light of Mesopotamian literature.

In 2019 Charles University, its Faculty of Arts, and the Czech Institute of Egyptology are celebrating the hundredth birthday of Czech Egyptology. It is an important centenary not only for us, but for archaeology globally. For many years now Czech Egyptologists have been among world leaders in the field, making major breakthroughs (most recently the discovery of the tomb of the priest Kaires) – and helping to set new international research trends. This book presents the most important discoveries of Czech Egyptologists and the range and variety of their activities.

In July 2018, Anthony Murphy and Ken Williams discovered a giant previously unknown monument close to Newgrange while flying their drones over the Boyne Valley. They found what archaeologists believe to be a Late Neolithic henge monument, measuring 154 metres (just over 500 feet) in diameter, and a number of other mysterious and intriguing features. Their discoveries became an internet and media sensation and made headlines all around the world. In the days, weeks and months that followed, there was intense interest in these gigantic relics of the prehistoric world. Archaeologists pored over the drone imagery and the National Monuments Service conducted their own helicopter flights over Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site to capture the features in more detail. In Dronehenge, Anthony Murphy tells the story of the remarkable discovery of this monument, and attempts to unravel some of its mysteries. Anthony describes the events that followed the first social media post about the discovery and how he spent three weeks doing little else but taking phone calls, answering emails and engaging in Skype calls with media all around the world. Lavishly illustrated, Dronehenge includes discussion of how this monument might have been constructed and what it might have been used for, and includes 3D models of its likely appearance. Anthony explains how the henge, along with the other features discovered, completely changes our view of the Brú na Bóinne landscape, and why it will have archaeologists and historians studying them for many years to come.

This second volume on Early Cycladic (and Cycladicising) sculptures found in the Aegean, examines finds from mainland Greece, along with the rarer items from the north and east Aegean, with the exception of those discovered in the Cyclades (covered in the preceding volume), and of those found in Crete. The significance of these finds is that these are the principal testimonies of the influence of the Early Bronze Age Cycladic cultures in the wider Aegean. This influence is shown both by the export of sculptures produced in the Cyclades (and made of Cycladic marble), and of their imitations, produced elsewhere in the Aegean, usually of local marble. They hold the key, therefore, to the cultural interactions developing at this time, the so-called ‘international spirit’ manifest particularly during the Aegean Early Bronze II period.This was the time when the foundations of early Aegean civilisation were being laid, and the material documented is thus of considerable significance. The volume is divided into sections wherein contributions examine finds and their archaeological, social, and economic contexts from specific regions. It concludes with an overview of the significance and role of these objects in Early Bronze Age societies of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean region. This will be the first time that this material has been systematically gathered together. Highly illustrated, it follows and builds on the successful preceding volume, Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context (Oxbow 2016).

In this book the much-debated problem of political organization in Mycenaean Greece (ca. 1400-1200 BC) is analysed and contextualised through the prism of archaeology and contemporary textual (Linear B, Egyptian and Hittite) evidence. From the early 14th century BC onwards, Hittite texts refer to a land Ahhiya(wa). The exact geographic position of this land has been the focus of academic debate for more than a century, but most specialists nowadays agree that it must have been a Hittite designation for a part, or all of, the Mycenaean world. On at least two occasions, the ruler of Ahhiyawa is designated as LUGAL.GAL –‘Great King’-; a title that was normally reserved for a select group of kings (such as the kings of Egypt, Assyria, Mitanni, Babylon and Hatti itself). The Hittite attribution of this title thus seems to signify the Ahhiyawan King’s supra-regional importance: it indicates his power over other, ‘lesser’ kings, and suggests that his relation to these vassals must have been comparable to the relations between the Hittite King and his own vassal rulers. The apparent Hittite perception of such an important ruler in the Mycenaean world is, however, completely at odds with the prevailing view of the Mycenaean world as a patchwork of independent states, all of which were ruled by a local ‘wanax’ -King. The papers in this volume address this apparent dichotomy and discuss various interpretations of the available evidence, and contextualise the role of the ruler in the Mycenaean world through comparisons with the contemporary Near East.

Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran.Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca. 4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal variations and similarities in material practices. This volume presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early Aeneolithic phase (“Meana Horizon”). A sequence of densely built, well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked similarities to earlier Neolithic architecture in the region. Despite overall standardized plans, the houses reveal significant variations in internal features and practices. Similar flexibility within a set of common dispositions is evident in burial practices. Very limited quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the frequent occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial production of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay tokens. A wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized handling of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar times and contexts.

A Report concerned with military reliefs in the Great Temple at Gebel Barkal in Nubia, the present Sudan (B 500), important battle scenes in the Great Temple's inner hall (B 502) and the outer one (B 501).

A concise introduction to Ancient Egyptian warfare from the Neolithic period through to the Iron Age, covering everything from battle tactics to weaponry and battle injuries. The excellent preservation of Egyptian artefacts including bows, axes and chariots, means that it is possible to track the changing nature of Egyptian military technology, as well as the equipment and ideas that were adopted from other civilisations of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. As well as discussing such crucial issues as military strategy, martial ideology, construction of fortresses and waging of siege warfare, this book includes the study of practical ques­tions of life, death and survival of individual soldiers on the battlefield.

In the present-day world order, political disintegration, the faltering of economic systems, the controversial and yet dramatic consequences of global warming and pollution, and the spread of poverty and social disruption in Western countries have rendered ‘collapse’ one of the hottest topics in the humanities and social sciences. In the frenetic run for identifying the global causes and large-scale consequences of collapse, however, instances of crisis taking place at the micro-scale are not always explored by scholars addressing these issues in present and past societies, while the ‘voices’ of the marginal/non-élite subjects that might be the main victims of collapse are often silenced in ancient history and archaeology. Within this framework Collapse or Survival explores localised phenomena of crisis, unrest and survival in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on the first millennium BC. In a time span characterised by unprecedented high levels of dynamism, mobility and social change throughout that region, the area selected for analysis represents a unique convergence point where states rise and fall, long-distance trade networks develop and disintegrate, and patterns of human mobility catalyse cultural change at different rates. The central Mediterranean also comprises a wealth of recently excavated and highly contextualised material evidence, casting new light on the agency of individuals and groups who endeavoured to cope with crisis situations in different geographical and temporal settings. Contributors provide novel definitions of ‘collapse’ and reconsider notions of crisis and social change by taking a broader perspective that is not necessarily centred on élites. Individual chapters analyse how both high-status and non-élite social agents responded to socio-political rupture, unrest, depopulation, economic crisis, the disintegration of kinship systems, interruption in long-term trade networks, and destruction in war.

Abstract German: Band 2 der BEFIM-Reihe enthält sieben Beiträge des BEFIM-Teams und enger Kooperationspartner. Die Zwischenberichte aus Band 1 werden darin vertieft, abgeschlossen und in Gesamtinterpretationen eingebettet. Ein einleitender Artikel befasst sich einführungs- und überblicksartig mit der Aussagekraft von Biomarkern und Isotopenanalysen bei der Untersuchung alter organischer Reste. Den Kern bilden drei Aufsätze, die den eigentlichen archäologisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Ergebnissen von BEFIM gewidmet sind. Der erste Beitrag bettet die Nahrungsrückstandsanalysen an Keramik aus den Altgrabungen (1950-85) sowie aus den jüngeren Ausgrabungen in der Vorburgsiedlung (2004-08) bzw. auf dem Plateau der Heuneburg (2015) in ihren archäologischen Kontext ein. Die Keramik aus relevanten Befundzusammenhängen erlaubt hierbei eine räumlich und zeitlich differenzierte Betrachtung bezüglich Ess- und Trinkgewohnheiten und Gefäßnutzung. Im zweiten Teil werden die Analyseergebnisse für lokale und importierte Keramik aus den alten, jüngeren und laufenden Grabungen auf dem und um den Mont Lassois mit Befundkontexten und formenkundlichen Aspekten verbunden. Auf diese Weise gelingt ein Vergleich des Gebrauchs unterschiedlicher Gefäßformen und gattungen in den verschiedenen Siedlungsbereichen. Als drittes werden die Ergebnisse der Nahrungsrückstandsanalysen zum Breisacher Münsterberg in ihrem archäologischen Zusammenhang präsentiert. Darauf folgt ein Aufsatz zur musealen Umsetzung der BEFIM-Ergebnisse im Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart. Den Abschluss bilden zwei geschlechtergeschichtliche Beiträge zur Frage von Alkohol in der Lebenswelt von Frauen in alten Kulturen Europas und des Nahen Ostens unter den Aspekten von Herstellung, Ausschank, Handel, Kulthandlungen und Konsum sowie zu Geschlechterklischees bei der Interpretation eisenzeitlicher Prunkgräber. Der Band richtet sich mit seinen teils generellen, teils speziellen Aufsätzen an ein breites akademisches Publikum von Universitäten, Museen und Denkmalpflege sowie an Studierende und interessierte Laien.Abstract English:Volume 2 of the BEFIM series contains seven papers by the BEFIM team and close co-operation partners. The interim reports of BEFIM 1 are enhanced, finalised, and integrated into overall interpretations. An introductory paper provides insights into and an overview of the potential of biomarker and isotopic analysis in studying ancient organic residues. The core of the book consist of three articles on the final archaeo-scientific results of BEFIM. The first one integrates the organic residue analyses (ORA) of pottery from the old excavations (1950-85) and recent excavations at both the Vorburg settlement (2004-08) and on the plateau (2015) of the Heuneburg into their archaeological contexts. The pottery from relevant find contexts allows for a spatially and temporally differentiated view of eating and drinking habits and vessel usage. The second paper combines the ORA results of local and imported pottery from early, younger, and current excavations on and around the Mont Lassios with excavation contexts and aspects of vessel shapes. By doing so, it becomes possible to compare the use of different vessel shapes and wares in each of the settlement zones. The third text presents the results of food residue analyses from Breisach-Münsterberg in their archaeological context. This is followed by an article on the museological implementation of BEFIM’s results in the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart. The volume ends with two gender-historical contributions, one on the question of alcohol in the female sphere of life in ancient cultures of Europe and the Near East with regard to production, distribution, trade, ritual, and consumption, the other on gender stereotypes in the interpretation of ostentatious Iron Age graves. The volume with its partly general, partly specific papers aims at both a wide academic audience (universities, museums, heritage authorities) and at students and interested non-professionals.

This book presents a group of small and inconspicuous barrows that were recently discovered in the forest of Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. They are part of an extensive barrow landscape of which little was yet known. Fieldwork carried out in and around them yielded a wealth of new data. It was discovered that even the most inconspicuous and heavily damaged mound of this group still contained many special features. This special place was anchored around a site that probably had a particular significance in the Late Neolithic, and where special rituals were carried out during the Bronze Age, resulting in the construction of an enigmatic row of pits – rituals the likes of which have not previously been attested around barrows in the Netherlands, but which are known elsewhere in Europe. The dead were buried at locations that were probably only later covered by monuments. During the Bronze Age (between the 18th and 15th centuries BC) the mounds of this small barrow group were used as collective graves for what was probably perceived as one specific ‘community of ancestors’. The burial practices in the mounds show strong similarities and it is argued that these barrows were each other’s successors, representing the funeral history of people who wished to unite their forebears in death as one unproblematic whole without distinctions. The fieldwork showed that even small-scale, partial excavations of a seemingly minor barrow group can inform us on the significance of the extensive barrow landscapes they are part of – a knowledge that can help us to understand the prehistoric legacy of the Netherlands and to protect it for the future as heritage.